I did this on a lap quilt I made for DH. The fabric I used for the top was some very sturdy linen, tightly woven, with a flannel backing (no batting). There was no way I could quilt this heavy sandwich using the normal thread and needle, and I didn't want to machine-quilt it. I used 100 percent mercerized cotton crochet thread and a heavy needle and the stitches were pretty large. It just about killed my fingers but it came out looking pretty good, it was an Amish-style design.

I've never done the big stitch, but it looks like it would look awesome with a simple block pattern and solid or TOT fabric so as better to show off the quilting. Rosa posted something about this a few years ago and was going to try it. Don't know if she ever did.

I'm almost set to go on a flannel quilt, and am considering using big stitches on that. I think we need to keep reminding ourselves that quilting is a folk art. There are certain principles of good sewing we shold follow for sound results, but we can get locked into rules so easily and stitch size has been one of them. It can be a very effective design tool as well as a time saver, especially for quilts bound for functional use.

I've worked with flannels before on a quilt for my g'son and a knot in perle cotton is easy enough to pull through the larger weave on flannel. If you are using something like a muslin backing, you can always start the quilting thread with the knot by pulling through the front of the quilt where the flannel is, instead of the back.